Planning to build a Laser Cutter/Engraver

[jimdt7]

I'm planning on building a DIY laser cutter or engraver at least.
Since i can't afford to buy a CO2 laser I'll probably use a blue-ray or 445nm.
Max budget is about 300$
I got some questions:

1) How many mW do i need to engrave paper or thin wood?

2) Motor and controller suggestions?

3) Am i going to be able to select a picture from my PC and send it to the engraver? (I am going to use an Arduino Uno)

Thanks a lot in advance,
Jim

 

[udanis]

I've considered building something very similar in the past. I looked at plans for opensource cnc routers. I think that it could fairly easily be done with some stepper motors and proper electronics. The software is already out there, you might just have to tweak the hardware.......something like having the z-axis of the router control the intensity of the diode.

Hope this helps!

 

[jimdt7]

I'm trying to find good steppers motors for my application.
I'll probably shop from here Robot Parts & Electronics :beer:

Thanks,
Jim

 

[richard86]

I plan on building a laser engraver.
Someone on lpf made one of cdrom drives which was amazing. It wouldnt be much harder to expand the size using scanners for the stepper motor and directional mechanisms. To cut/engrave over a bigger area.

What i want to know is. What is used to turn the laser on and how powerfull it should be by the software?

Ive got alot of new projects for the new year

Good luck with yours and keep me updated with your builds

Richard

 

[jimdt7]

Wish you good luck my friend!
Will keep you updated :beer:

Jim

 

[ApexProxy]

Since your intentions are to burn from quite close distances I would suggest you go with 445nm. That way you have the option to ramp up power considerably higher than a 405nm diode could do if something you would like to do requires more power. An M140 diode through a G2 lens should work perfectly. You will be able to focus down to a super small dot and get incredible burning power with 2W+ capabilities if you get a good diode. I would imagine you could engrave way quicker and on more heat resistant materials with that power.

 

[jimdt7]

Since i have diodes and optics, I am struggling to find
parts for the table.....
How powerfull should the motors be?

Jim

 

[ApexProxy]

I wouldn't imagine they need to be very powerful. You could probably even use motors out of a couple DVD or floppy drives. Those are designed to be very accurate and smooth which is exactly what you need.

 

[Laser Smith]

I saw a thread recently, someone built a mini cutter/engraver using a 500mW 405nm, some old diode sleds, cnc controller, basic stuff for like $200 and it worked very nicely. ARP tuning comes to mind. I'm gonna continue my search brb

 

[jimdt7]

I saw a thread recently, someone built a mini cutter/engraver using a 500mW 405nm, some old diode sleds, cnc controller, basic stuff for like $200 and it worked very nicely. ARP tuning comes to mind. I'm gonna continue my search brb

Thank you very much!
Can u give me the link of that thread? :beer:

Jim

 

[Laser Smith]

Aha! I found it 11 hours later
http://laserpointerforums.com/f54/mini-cnc-laser-etcher-78491.html

And it was ARD tuning! :banghead:

 

[Bionic-Badger]

You can also just use servos modified for continuous rotation, or just connect some sort of stepper motor to the screw shaft. The latter is basically what a CDROM drive does.

 

[jimdt7]

Hmm, since i have an arduino UNO
are there any shields out there for it instead
of buying a controller? :thinking:

Jim